Yesterday,
kos and
BarbinMD posted diaries (kos as part of an open thread) relating to
Judge Alito's job application to be Attorney General Ed Meese's deputy assistant in 1985. Both discussed primarily his views on abortion, although BarbinMD also discussed his views on affirmative action. Both also miss the key paragraph, which is below the fold:
When I first became interested in government and politics during the 1960s, the greatest influences on my views were the writings of William F. Buckley Jr., the National Review, and Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign. In college, I developed a deep interest in constitutional law, motivated in large part by disagreement with Warren Court decisions, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure, the Establishment Clause, and reapportionment. I discovered the writings of Alexander Bickel advocating judicial restraint, and it was largely this reason that I decided to go to Yale Law School.
Also important is Judge Alito's boasting of his support for the National Conservative Political Action Committee, which, to quote Sen. Leahy's press release about the document, "largely invented the negative, slash-and-burn politics of the hard right and of the Republican Party's 'Southern Strategy.'"
This raises serious questions since it is difficult to forget your roots. That Judge Alito wrote his motivation for going to law school was his disagreement with core Warren Court precedents is very disturbing.
Certainly, Senate Democrats will question whether he thinks today those decisions which he disagreed with the Warren Court -- Mapp v. Ohio (1961), Gideon v. Wainright (1963), Miranda v. Arizona (1966), Terry v. Ohio (1968), Engel v. Vitale (1962), and Baker v. Carr (1962) -- were wrongly decided. But just as important as Judge Alito's legal brilliance is his sense of justice. (As Colby King recently pointed out, even the best and the brightest legal minds arguing for retaining Plessy v. Ferguson made plausible arguments at the time for retaining legal segregation in public schools -- that African Americans would be better off with segregation; that it was the States' right to decide; that stability in government and predictability in the law must be maintained. Thankfully, the Supreme Court saw otherwise.) Does Judge Alito even see injustice? Does Judge Alito believe that the Supreme Court should take an active role to rectify these injustices?
Does Judge Alito believe that millions of poor Americans who otherwise would not be able to afford a lawyer when charged with a crime now must have one has been a good thing for society? Does it offend Judge Alito that when captive audience prayer was permitted, students of minority faiths were excused from the classroom, and told "you're different?" Does Judge Alito believe that because of "one person, one vote" principle established in Baker v. Carr, millions of Americans now have equal relevance in legislative decisions, has been good for society? Does Judge Alito find the Willie Horton ad offensive? These are all questions that should be asked to get a hold on Judge Alito's sense of justice.